Girl falls on rocks while skiing: Failure to eliminate hazardous condition: Wrongful death: Settlement

Law Reporter, Dec 2004

Cournoyer v. Mountain Creek, N.J., Sussex County Super. Ct., No. SSX-L-318-01, Aug. 2, 2004.

Cournoyer, 12, was skiing on an intermediate slope when she fell and struck lier head on a rocky embankment adjacent to the trail. She suffered fatal injuries. She is survived by her parents and two minor siblings.

Her father, on behalf of her estate, sued the ski slope resort and its owner, alleging the embankment was a design flaw that created a hazardous condition.

Defendants contended state law provides that skiers assume the inherent risks of skiing and thus Cournoyer assumed the risks associated with a fall. Plaintiff countered that the embankment was not an inherent risk because it was not an integral part of the sport of skiing, and defendants could have eliminated it.

The parties settled before trial for $225,000.

Plaintiff's experts in this case were John Hanst, siding, Green Village, N.J.; Harold Sobel, forensic pathology, Wayne, N.J.; and Matityahu Marcus, economics, Scotch Plains, N.J.

Defendants' expert in this case was Jasper Shealy, skiing, Rochester, N.Y.

Plaintiff's Counsel

* Gerald Baker, Hoboken, N.J.

Court Documents by Topic and an Abstract Set on skiing accidents are available in the back of this issue.